BOSNIAN SERBS PREVENT CROAT REFUGEES FROM VISITING CEMETERY

SLAVONSKI BROD, April 21 (Hina) - Bosnian Croat refugees were prevented from visiting a Catholic cemetery in the Serb- controlled northern Bosnian town of Bosanski Brod on Sunday despite permission from the NATO-led peace implementation force and international police in Bosnia. At the entrance to the cemetery the Croats were stopped by an angry crowd of about one hundred Serbs shouting abuse at them, witnessess said. The refugees were forced to turn back and while they were getting onto their buses to return home, the Serbs began throwing stones at them, slightly injuring three people and shattering all the windows on the buses. The Croat refugees were advised to leave Bosanski Brod after international police failed to ensure them safety in talks with local Serb police. Under an agreement with the International Police Task Force, two buses of refugees, accompanied by six priests, were to visit the Catholic cemetery at Tulek at 11.00 hours to lay wreaths and light candles on the graves of their families. (hina) vm 212001 MET apr 96